The invention relates to a food pouch assembly adapted for dispensing a flowable food product out of a food dispenser. More particularly, the invention relates to a pouch assembly adapted to fit in a dispenser using narrow profiled heated or cooled cassettes adapted to maintain the pouch in a standing position during product flow.
Heated or refrigerated dispensers for delivering liquid or semi-liquid food products are commonly used in foodservice restaurants, catering, convenience stores and other commercial or public food establishments. The known dispensers are usually adapted for receiving food bags in a housing and for delivering the food by using pumps and/or gravity forces to a dispensing area.
It has been found that for reducing the heat-up time and improving the heating efficiency, the food pouch should preferably be inserted into a cassette that keeps the bag in a standing position while applying heat by intimately arranging the pouch in contact with the extensive walls of the cassette that are heated. This is disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/788,652. Furthermore, it has been found out that the flow of product is promoted when the product delivery is made through the bottom side of the cassette which corresponds to the lowest point in the cassette. Despite there improvements, it is not convenient and easy to seal a fitment on the edge of a pouch. There exist boat type fitments that can be sealed along the edge of the pouch but then the pouch cannot be filled by a standard aseptic filling machines.
In known prior art such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,223,944 and 6,056,157, the product is delivered through a hopper passage that is not in the bottom side but in the front of the hopper. As a result, full evacuation of the product cannot be properly obtained primarily since the fitment is not located at the lowest point in the hopper.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,803,317 and 6,003,733, the product is delivered through a passage that is located through the bottom of the receptacle for the pouch. The pouch is not maintained standing along its sealed edge in the receptacle but has one of its two extensive surfaces contacting a sloped bottom of the receptacle. As a consequence of the pouch arrangement in the receptacle, product evacuation is still not optimal and depends on the slope of the bottom and furthermore a poor heat transfer is obtained.
Therefore, there is a need for new pouches that overcome these deficiencies.
The invention provides a pouch assembly that is adapted to stand in a position that improves product evacuation and product heating efficiency while the pouch is still compatible for filling with the standard filling machines. Another feature of the invention is that the pouch assembly can fit both a cassette-type dispenser in which the pouch is loaded along a vertical plane and the known dispensers which receive the pouch laying flat along a sloped or horizontal plane. This helps in lowering inventory costs and rationalizing management of product SKUs.
The pouch assembly of the invention advantageously comprises a main pouch body adapted to receive an amount of flowable food, and a fitment member sealingly attached to the pouch on a lower portion of one side of the body, wherein the lower portion is capable of flexing at substantially 90 degrees with respect to the rest of the body to orient the fitment downward when the pouch is supported in a standing position for product delivery. There is also provided a spacer means at least partially engaging the fitment to maintain a sufficient clearance inside the pouch to allow evacuation of the flowable product through the fitment.
the invention also relates to a method for improving delivery a flowable food product from a pouch assembly as aforementioned which comprises maintaining the body of the pouch standing in a substantially vertical support assembly comprising a bottom passage while flexing a lower portion of the pouch at substantially 90 degrees with respect to body of the pouch while the fitment of the pouch being located through the passage so as to orient itself downward and maintaining a sufficient clearance by a spacer between the outlet and the inside of the pouch to allow evacuation of the flowable product through the outlet.